Albany River Rats

The Albany Devils, the American Hockey League affiliate of the New Jersey Devils, are approaching the quarter mark of the 2010-11 season, as they have played 18 games of 76.

The Baby Devils are looking to get into the playoffs for the first time since they became the Devils last season. Albany last made the playoffs when they were known as the River Rats in 2009-10 and had an affiliation with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Here is a look at how the Devils are faring so far and what’s ahead as the team approaches a month of games before Christmas.

Key Stats

The Devils currently have a record of 9-7-2 for 20 points and fifth place in the AHL’s Northeast Division. This is their first year in the newly created Northeast Division after being in the East Division last season. Albany is also currently in 12th place in the league’s Eastern Conference and one point out of the last playoff spot.

They are scoring 2.5 goals per game (45 goals scored overall), but surrender about 3.05 goals per contest (55 surrendered overall).

Albany’s special teams are in the basement of the AHL, as their power play is ranked 25th with just a 14.3 percent success rate and their penalty kill is second-to-last at 74 percent.

Key Players

Matt Anderson, Right Wing

Anderson is in his second year with Albany and was the team’s leading scorer last year with 55 points. His performance earned him a trip to the 2011 AHL All-Star Game. He is also a Calder Cup champion, having won the trophy with the Chicago Wolves in 2008.

He currently leads the Devils with 10 points on the season.

Keith Kinkaid, Goaltender

Kinkaid was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Union College and has already spent time with New Jersey this year, but did not get to suit up in a game.

So far in his rookie year, he is sixth in the AHL in wins and has a record of 5-3-0. He has a 2.45 GAA and a .915 save percentage.

Matt Taormina, Defenseman

Taormina is looking to bounce back after a difficult 2010-11 campaign. He made New Jersey’s roster last year, but played just 17 games before missing the rest of the season with a lower-body injury. However, in those 17 games, he had five points and a minus-two rating.

He is currently leading Albany defensemen with eight points and has a plus-three rating.

Joe Whitney, Right Wing

Whitney is another undrafted player who was signed out of Boston College. He is currently tied for the team scoring lead with 10 points and leads the Devils with five goals this season.

Coaching

Rick Kowalsky is back for his second season as Albany’s head coach.

He was known to the Devils organization upon his hire, as he spent four years coaching the former Trenton Devils in the ECHL. His accomplishments include winning the 2009 John Brophy Award as the ECHL’s Coach of the Year and leading Trenton to the North Division Semifinals in the Kelly Cup playoffs.

Upcoming Schedule

Albany’s next five games are as follows:

Saturday, Nov. 26: at Adirondack Phantoms, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 27: at Springfield Falcons, 3:00 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 2: vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 3: at Bridgeport, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 4: vs. Rochester Americans, 4:00 p.m.

This article also appears at The Hockey Writers.

Mike Brodeur made his first start in goal with the Amerks last night when he shutout the Albany River Rats.  He made the Rats (who just beat the Norfolk Admirals 8-1 on Friday night) look like a mess on the ice.  But, he wasn’t the only player who really stepped up to show what they can do.

Tanner Glass, who has been invisible most of the season, stepped up to grab a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.  He tried to fight Dwyer right off of the opening faceoff, but was just handed a slashing penalty, which really didn’t do anyone any good. 

He scored the Amerks’ fourth goal in the third period and got into a fight basically right after coming out of the box for his first penalty.  It’s really too bad that it takes the Florida Panther’s GM being in attendance to get something out of Glass. 

He was rewarded for last night’s play with a call up to the Panthers to play in tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators.  Also, getting a deserved call-up for tonight’s game in Ottawa is Michal Repik, the Amerks' points leader.

The Amerks certainly all played their best game of the season last night.

They came right out of the gate in charge of the game and never let down.  The shots are misleading, with the Rats only having one less (28 to the Amerks’ 29).  The Amerks’ defense stayed on top of things the whole game, leaving the Rats with many shots from the point that were rushed and off.

The Amerks were 100 percent on their penalty kill last night and it wasn’t by accident.  They looked amazing out there.  They killed off each penalty with ease…proving that their hard work during practice on their special teams’ skills is starting to pay off.

And what a difference playing with the lead makes.  The Amerks left the first period up 2-0 and they never looked back.

Another player who had a great night was Janis Sprukts.  He had two solid goals and almost got the hat trick, but his stick broke in half on the shot. He clearly had the goalie beat; it’s really too bad.  We haven’t had a hat trick since Feb. 2, 2007 when Mike Ryan scored a hattie in Syracuse.

Speaking of Mike Ryan, he plays for the Rats now and didn’t do anything to help them last night.  In fact, he was horrible.  People complained that the Amerks didn’t pick him up when he was a free agent this year, but he is no better than what we have.  Let’s keep looking elsewhere though.

The only thing I hope is that the Florida Panthers don’t think that this game shows that we are fine.  We are not fine.  We need more help.

Mike Brodeur may be a spark, but he isn’t the answer.  Noah Welch is only going to be here for a few more games at most and Rory Fitzpatrick is out until at least Christmas.

Add that up with all the Panthers’ current injuries and it spells disaster.

The three stars of the game last night were Stefan Meyer (three), Janis Sprukts (two), and Mike Brodeur (one)…I wouldn’t have put it any other way.

And, let’s all look on the bright side...we only need one more win this month to make it better than last December.  Keep it going in Texas boys.

The Amerks are currently on their way to Texas, where they will play the San Antonio Rampage (tomorrow) and the Houston Aeros (Wednesday night).  The Amerks beat the Aeros once already this season and are better now than they were then.

Come on Amerks.  I know you can get a road win in warm and sunny Texas.  Go there and mess with it.

Post from: Lets Go Amerks - Rochester Americans

Amerks Send The River Rats Back To The Sewer; Win 4-0

This is the last of a four part series of interviews taken after a prospects practice on Thursday, July 10.

Michael Leighton recently signed a two year deal with the Hurricanes. He had a tremendous season for the Albany River Rats last year, setting franchise records in many different categories. He was also voted as goaltender of the year for the entire AHL.

Michael volunteered to help out at the prospects conditioning camp and was available to the press after practice, along with the prospects. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really as prepared as I would have liked to have been to interview the goalie, but the opportunity presented itself so I gave it a shot. This is my first ever NHL player interview.

CC- Can you tell me about that wild five overtime game against Philadelphia in the playoffs last season when you made 98 saves? Were players on oxygen in the dressing room during the intermissions or what?

ML- It was pretty crazy. Players were exhausted by the third OT and it got to the point that when someone gained possession of the puck, they would just dump it in and make a line change. We had plenty of energy bars and drinks between periods and some fruit. They ordered some pizza for us for after the fifth overtime period, but unfortunately we lost in that period and ended up eating the pizza at the end of the game.

CC- How does it feel to have the stability of a two year contract?

ML- I couldn’t be happier. I was really hoping to be able to work something out with the Hurricanes this off-season, and for them to have the confidence in me to offer a two year deal is very satisfying.

CC- Stephanie, from Eyecandyair sent me an email informing me about the new mask they airbrushed for you toward the end of last season. Do you have any plans to get another new one?

ML- Not really, I hadn’t thought much about it. Although, I am kind of waiting to get word back from ITECH so something might be coming up. I’m not really sure.

CC- Who has the toughest shot that you faced in the AHL last season?

ML- The AHL? That’s tough. I really don’t think about recognizing the players too much, I am concentrating primarily on the puck.

CC- What has been the proudest achievement in your career so far?

ML- Well, my very first game in the NHL was with Chicago and we were playing against Phoenix. The game went to the end of regulation in a 0-0 tie. We ended up losing, which was very disappointing, but I was very proud to have a shutout in regulation in my first ever NHL game.

_____

Michael offered to shake hands after the interview which was pretty classy. Hopefully, I’ll have another opportunity with him sometime down the road when I have some better questions.

If you’re like us and start planning hockey road trips early, you may be interested in marking your calendar for Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 when the Florida Everblades will be nearby to play the Elmira Jackals.

It’s the only game scheduled between the two teams.

Elmira is a roughly two-hour drive south from Rochester, NY.

The Florida Everblades are affiliated with the Florida Panthers, who are affiliated with Rochester.

Typically if the Panthers are required to call a player up from the AHL they will replace that player with a prospect they have with the Everblades.  Early in the 07/08 seasons the Panthers called Tyler Plante up from the Everblades and sent David Schantz down.

Also towards the end of the season players Kenndal McArdle, Peter Aston, Franklin MacDonald, and Adam Taylor had been reassigned to the Blades to assist with their playoff run.

We’ll be keeping an eye on players with the Everblades in the ECHL more during the coming season.

The Everblades are also affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes (NHL), Albany River Rats (AHL), and the Plymouth Whalers (OHL).

The Everblades are thought of to be model franchise for the ECHL, as they have not missed the playoffs in each of their nine seasons, and making two appearances in the Kelly Cup Finals.

The Everblades’ fan base is also considered to be one of the best in the league, as many games at Germain Arena sell out, especially Saturday night games.

Many fans of different NHL and minor-league teams, as well as international fans come out to watch the Everblades.

During my daily search and perusal of Hurricanes related stories, I came across this interesting article about the Albany River Rats and their attendance issues. According to the author, the Rats have only averaged a total of 1,873 fans for each home game so far this playoff season.

Are you kidding me?

The next time I hear criticism about how any city in the South doesn’t deserve a hockey team, I will remember this article. Raleigh has drawn more fans to Canes scrimmages than that. As a matter of fact, this “non traditional hockey market” recently drew over 3,000 fans to watch amateur firefighters and policemen play in a game for charity. That’s right, amateurs!

It’s hard to believe that the capital city of New York State can’t muster up 3,000 lonely souls to watch a professional hockey playoff game. It makes you wonder if the team has a marketing department at all. Is anyone aware that they even have a team in the area? According to the article, they have advertised a lot, but where?

If this blogger could make a couple of humble suggestions….

1. Call up the RBC Center today and ask if the remaining home games can be played in Raleigh. Nope, 18,000 won’t make it, but I guarantee more than 1,873 people will show up. People are hungry for hockey right now and I think team officials would be surprised how many people would attend.
2. Call up Hannah Montana and have her sing between periods.
3. Have a blogging contest and open up a “blogger’s box”. Case in point, more people read this blog every few days then the number who showed up for that game.
4. Hang out at the RPI rink and steal some of their fans. College hockey is done for the year and those college kids might want something to do.
5. Have a promotion night. How about a free Tim Conboy bobblehead to the first 5,000 fans? I guarantee a sell-out.

All joking aside, it’s a shame more people aren’t enjoying hockey up in Albany. I wish that I lived closer, I would be there in a heartbeat.

Along the same subject line, the Rats lost their last game to Philadelphia by a score of 2-1. The series is now tied up at 2-2.

Before signing off, I would just like to take a moment to offer congratulations to Andy over at Hurricanes Insider on the birth of his new baby boy! He posted a pic over at his site, and that is one cute baby. Good luck Andy, life has officially changed as you once knew it!

Speaking of HI, looks like Andy posted a similar article about Rats attendance here.

America

The Carolina Hurricanes are in Sunrise, Florida tonight to play the Panthers in a game of significance for each club.

Florida is seven points behind Carolina in the Southeast Division race, but just two points behind Washington and four points behind eigth place Philadelphia. Technically, they are still alive in the race for the playoffs, but they need a lot of help to get there.

The Florida franchise is billing tonight’s contest as the “Game of the Year”, and it very well could be. A loss to the Canes would just about put a stake in the heart of any post-season hopes. Needless to say, they will be playing with extreme urgency.

The Hurricanes, on the otherhand, gave themselves a bit of breathing room by beating Atlanta last night, while watching close rival Washington lose to Chicago afterwards. While this win would be nice to have, it’s not as crucial for the Canes.

There have been a few newspaper quotes this morning from Florida coach and GM Jacques Martin about his team’s historic trouble with the team from Carolina. While not exactly using the specific term “diving”, he did mention that the Panthers have to watch their stickwork because the Canes are good at “drawing” penalties.

I have a tip for Martin and the Panthers: Just play by the rules, and you should be okay. Hooking, tripping, holding, and interference are all against the rules. Skate hard, play your game, and don’t worry so much about Carolina’s ability to “draw” penalties.

In my opinion, this is one reason why the Panthers will never amount to anything under Martin. He is more worried about what the Canes are doing than preparing his team to play their own game. Knucklehead.

Carolina is expected to skate the exact same lineup as last night. There is a possiblility that Dennis Seidenberg could return, or that Wade Brookbank might be ready, but if either of them play it will be a game-time decision. Cam Ward will make his 14th straight start.

The Hurricanes have won eight of their last ten while the Panthers have won seven in a row. They will be hoping to break a franchise record with eight tonight. Two red-hot teams with playoff aspirations face off tonight, and it should be a good one. Game time is at 7:30 and it will be broadcast locally on FSN. This is another HD game.

 (LGA) Adam Dennis lead the Amerks to a 2-1 over time victory tonight against the Albany River Rats with 39 saves, 33 of those coming in the first two periods.  In over time Franklin MacDonald received a pass from Stefan Meyer and took a shot from the point, Anthony Stewart scored the game winner off of the rebound.

The Rats took an early 1-0 lead when Jerome Samson was able to trickle a puck over the right shoulder of Adam Dennis on the power play.  Martin Lojek had been put in the penalty box on a weak holding penalty called by questionable referee Chris Ciamaga.

The Rats had seven power play opportunities but were only able to capitalize on one.

Marc-Andre Gragnani is quickly solidifying himself as Amerks rookie of the year after a rough start; he scored his seventh goal of the season at 8:27 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1.  He scored off of a perfect pass from Andrej Sekera.  This was the eight consecutive game in which he has tallied a point (three goals and 6 assists).

Dear Cunneyworth, keep Gragnani on offense, don’t ever let him play defense ever again - and make sure to tell his agent the same thing.

Anthony Stewart scored the game winner (11th goal of the season) at 1:30 into over time with assists from Franklin MacDonald and Stefan Meyer.

The #1 star of the game was definitely Adam Dennis.  It was his eighth straight start and 14th win of the season.  The only goal he allowed tonight barely trickled over his shoulder, other than that if it wasn’t for his play the Rats would’ve put the game away early in the second period.

Mike Funk also deserves mention for throwing his long legs all over the ice keeping shots from getting through on Adam Dennis.  Ever since he has returned from an injury and cut his hair his game has improved.

After the second period I had looked up at the shots board where it read 34-10 in favor of the River Rats, I couldn’t believe it was only a 1-1 game.  This is a different Amerks team that has emerged as of late and is not giving up throughout a game.

Rather than talk about a losing streak we can now talk about success as they’ve tallied at least a point in eight of the previous 11 games.  They’ve managed to accomplish this as six players who had been a big part of the lineup earlier in the season have been playing with the Panthers and Sabres.  Those players being Clarke MacArthur, Patrick Kaletta, Tanner Glass, David Brine, Rob Globke, and Drew Larman.

Two big things that can be attributed to the recent success is the improved play of Adam Dennis, as well as a group of guys who’ve seemed to come together as a team and play 60 minutes of hockey.  It’s too bad this didn’t start happening in early December.

The picture at the top of the article is of sticks belonging to Mike Weber, the writing on the sticks was in memory of his friend of Mickey Renaud who passed away this week at the age of 19, they were great friends in junior hockey.  There was a moment of silence at the start of the game in memory of Mickey.

“He was like a little brother to me,” said Weber (in Wednesdays D&C).

Mark Renaud (Mickey’s dad) was a teammate of Amerks coach Randy Cunneyworth for two seasons in Rochester (1983-84 and ‘84-85).

The Amerks are back at home on Friday night at 7:35 as they face off against the Binghamton Senators, the Amerks have lost all four games this season against the Senators.

It may be worth your time to return to an Amerks game if you’ve stayed away because of there play during December and January.